


Technical Difficulties

by acedott



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: ...eventually, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Meetings, I just want them to be happy, M/M, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, also very soft, but like soft angst, the whole thing is pretty soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:54:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23510422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acedott/pseuds/acedott
Summary: Newt and Hermann's first meeting was a disaster. Years later, they get a chance to talk about what went wrong.
Relationships: Newton Geiszler/Hermann Gottlieb
Comments: 8
Kudos: 27





	Technical Difficulties

_2017_

“Hermann! Hey!”

Hermann’s face smiled back at Newt from his laptop. “Newton, hello!”

“Dude, I’m so psyched to finally meet you! Sort of. Can you believe we finally were gonna meet face to face and then _this_ happens?”

“I doubt a freak blizzard sprang up simply to interfere with our meeting, but the timing is unfortunate.” He had a weird twisted pout that made Newt’s heart do flips.

“Hey, thank G-d for the Internet at least, right? At least I still get to kind of see you.”

“Yes, thank goodness for the Internet.” Hermann cleared his throat, causing some feedback on Newt’s end. At least he wasn’t wearing earbuds. “I must confess, this may be for the best. I am a bit nervous to finally meet you, worried I would make a complete fool of myself. This way, there is more of an element of control on my end, so to speak.”

Newt flopped onto his bed, no doubt making Hermann’s view a little shaky. “At least it’s not just me. I’m super excited to meet you, but I have a way of coming off like an ass when I meet people for the first time. Ugh, the first time I met my academic advisor-”

“For which doctorate was that?” Hermann asked, amused.

“Oh dude, this was _undergrad_! And I had the same advisor the whole time I was at MIT! She didn’t come around on me until my third doctorate. It sucked big time.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” Hermann offered loyally, but the smile he was failing to hide suggested otherwise.

“Trust me, it was. I told her I wanted to study kaiju. Turns out her younger brother died during the first attack in San Francisco.” 

“Oh, Newton, no,” he gasped, horrified.

“Yeah. She was, uh, not my biggest fan for a while.”

“I’m sure. Fortunately, I understand your interest is purely academic. The tattoos are a bit gauche, perhaps.” Newt was almost offended, but he saw the teasing glint in Hermann’s eyes even through the camera.

“My tattoos are cool as shit, and you know it.” He settled against the headboard of his bed. “But enough about me, tell me about you!”

“We’ve been corresponding for the past three years, Newton, I believe you may know all there is.”

“I’m calling bullshit. Come on, man, you’ve gotta have something! I told you an embarrassing story, you owe me one.”

“Oh, very well. When I was a child, I had a stuffed bear that I used to carry with me everywhere. I believe he was a gift. He had a little bow tie and glasses attached to him, so I called him...well, that’s not important.” Hermann was blushing a little bit.

“It’s crucial, actually, you can’t hold back on me now!”

Hermann sighed and mumbled into his hand. 

“Sorry, what was that?”

“His name was Dr. Theodore!” Hermann hissed. “Once my grandmother called him Dr. Teddy, and I may have told her off.”

Newt busted out laughing. “Herms, that’s adorable! I can just picture tiny you giving your grandma a firm talking to, complete with wagging finger!”

“If you’re quite done.” Hermann was also smiling. “I do admit, that visual is amusing. And more or less accurate.”

“Oh, man, you are so stupid cute!”

“Excuse me?” His smile faded, replaced with a look of hurt.

 _Oh shit, how did I fuck this up already? Maybe he doesn’t like being called cute. He really cares about being taken seriously, that would make sense_ “Sorry, dude. I didn’t mean anything by it. I just meant that...Never mind. So what are you working on? I can see your chalkboard behind you has a bunch of calculations and stuff.”

Hermann was still frowning, but he allowed the change in subject. “Oh, yes. I’m currently mapping the instances of past kaiju attacks. I believe I may be able to create a predictive model for future attacks, allowing the areas to be evacuated and jaegers deployed to the site.”

“That’s amazing! That would save so many lives, man!”

Hermann was beginning to smile again. “That is my hope as well. The difficulty comes in tracking the variables of time and location. Narrowing the field to the Pacific Ocean does help, of course, but…”

Newton tuned out the rest of what he said. He was interested, he was. But he was much more interested in how cute, no _handsome_ , better fix that habit right now, Hermann was when he talked about math. His eyes lit up and his face became much more animated, like the walls he built up around himself were falling away. His outfit was so him, a button up and a cardigan that looked so soft. His hair also looked soft, sticking to his forehead just a little, as if he had just showered. Had he showered to look nice for Newt? 

“I must admit, Newton,” Hermann said, much softer than he had before. “That nobody listens to you. Honestly, not taken seriously.”

Newt felt like he’d been punched in the gut. “What?”

Hermann looked at him, confused. “I’ve said as much in our letters, this shouldn’t come as a shock to you.”

“If that’s how you feel, then fuck you. I don’t ever want to see you again, you asshole!” Newt slammed his laptop shut, ending the call and their friendship. 

~~~

_2017_

“Oh, man, you are so stupid!”

Hermann recoiled. “Excuse me?” He trusted Newton, he maybe even...for him to say this hurt more than he cared to admit. 

“Sorry, dude. I didn’t mean anything by it. I just meant that...Never mind. So what are you working on? I can see your chalkboard behind you has a bunch of calculations and stuff.”

 _Perhaps it was merely a careless choice of words_ , Hermann thought, launching into his explanation of his predictive model. _Possibly he meant it in a friendly way. Or as a joke._

The rapt attention Newt paid him while he explained assuaged his fears. If Newt truly believed Hermann was unintelligent, he wouldn’t be listening so intently. He certainly never would have written to him in the first place all those years ago if he didn’t admire his intellect.

“I must admit, Newton,” he said softly, taking a risk. “That nobody listens to me quite so intently as you. Honestly, I’m often not taken seriously.”

Newt looked shocked. “What?”

 _Oh dear, perhaps this was a bit too much too fast. Still, this is salvageable_ , Hermann thought. “I’ve said as much in our letters, this shouldn’t come as a shock to you.” 

“If that’s how you feel, then fuck you. I don’t ever want to see you again, you asshole!” Newt slammed his laptop shut, ending the call and their friendship. 

~~~

_2037_

Newton had been free of the Precursors for two years now. Those years had changed him and Hermann. They still bickered, but it was softer. Newt not wanting to hurt anyone anymore and Hermann not wanting to open slowly healing wounds created gentle teasing as opposed to their old knock-down-drag-out fights.

Hermann had also become more assertive. He’d had to be, to convince the PPDC that Newton was not beyond saving, that he could save him. He’d begun to follow rules more to the spirit than the letter. Not a full-blown rebel, Lars had raised him too carefully for that, but he had certainly taken some creative interpretations of the rules in order to save Newton.

Newt, on the other hand, became softer. His stream-of-consciousness way of talking had reached new heights. He talked nearly incessantly to prove to himself that he could. He’d also blown all of his money from Shao Industries on the best laser tattoo removal money could buy. Some lines still remained, but he was considering having them turned into flowers. 

“I’m just trying to figure out _what_ flower, Herms. Because flowers send a message, you know, and I don’t want to be misinterpreted. Like, what if I pick something pretty but then it turns out they mean murder in flower code? Not that anyone even really knows flower code-”

“I do, Newton, I told you multiple times not to buy certain bouquets because of what they symbolize, and you predictably ignored me.”

“But it’s still important to send the right message. One that says ‘Hey, I’m me again and not being brainwashed!’ Is there a flower that says that?”

“Baby’s breath, rosemary, and yarrow,” Hermann replied instantly. “Baby’s breath for innocence, rosemary for rebirth, and yarrow for healing. These in conjunction say that you are innocent, healing from the past, and beginning anew.”

Newton swallowed thickly. “Yeah, that. That sounds good. Um, thanks, Hermann. How do you know so much about this anyway?”

“I learned when I was a child. I arranged bouquets around the house as my own private rebellion. A way to tell my father off without retaliation.” He smiled wryly. “He disliked my hobby, of course, not ‘manly’ enough. But he didn’t understand the messages in them, so it was safe enough.”

“G-d, your dad is a dick. I bet tiny Hermann arranging flowers was adorable.” Newt froze. “Sorry, I didn’t think. I know you hate being called cute.”

Hermann looked at him, puzzled. “Hate is a strong word. It’s not a word I would generally prefer, but it doesn’t significantly bother me, especially not in reference to myself as a child. What gave you the impression that I minded?”

“When we first met, or virtually met, I called you cute and you got all offended. Then you said nobody listens to me or takes me seriously.”

“No, you called me _stupid_ and I got offended. And I never said anything of the sort, not back then. In Hong Kong, that’s another story.”

“Dude, I remember your exact words! You said, quote, ‘nobody listens to you. Honestly, not taken seriously.’ End fucking quote. Then I hung up because I was so mad.” Newton may or may not have cried himself to sleep after with those words echoing in his brain.

“Newton, first of all, I never said that at all. Second of all, if I truly didn’t take you seriously, why would I have responded to your initial letter? Or all the bloody letters after that?”

“I don’t know! You’re the one who said it! All stiff and jerky and shit, like a robot.”

Hermann’s anger faded away in recognition and his face paled. “Jerky. Like audio cutting in and out?”

“Yeah, exactly like...Oh.”

Hermann took Newt’s hand. “What I said was, quote, ‘nobody listens to me quite so intently as you. Honestly, I’m often not taken seriously.’ End quote,” he said softly, gently stroking the back of his hand. “The audio must have cut out in the middle. Which I’m assuming is what happened when I heard you call me stupid?”

Newt sniffed, looking down at their hands. “Yeah, I guess so. I called you stupid cute. I thought you were offended at the ‘cute’ part, since you’re a doctor with ten years of experience and all.” He looked up at Hermann, eyes watering. “We lost years because of a fucking audio glitch?”

Unable to stop himself, Hermann wiped away the tears beginning to spill from Newt’s eyes. Newt leaned in to the touch. Feeling bolder, Hermann gently tilted Newt’s chin up.

“It would appear that way. But we _are_ here now.” His eyes flicked to Newt’s lips and leaned in slightly, but he waited for Newt to close the distance. He wanted to do this right, as gently as Newt needed.

Newt closed the distance not at all gently. His lips crashed into Hermann’s desperately, as if intensity could make up for all the years they had lost. Hermann returned it like a man starving. Their teeth clashed and lips missed the mark just as often as they connected, hands unable to find convenient purchase. It was not the most graceful kiss either of them had ever had. It was the best kiss both had ever had.

Eventually, they repositioned themselves and found a better rhythm. Hermann’s hands cupped Newt’s jaw lightly, just enough to keep him at the perfect angle for their lips to connect every time. Newt held on to the backs of his shoulders tightly, standing just slightly on his toes to reach. The greedy desperation shifted to something softer, a promise.

When they finally parted for air, Newt looked at Hermann, dazed. “So, can I call you cute? Because you really are. Also brilliant and weird and funny and sexy and-”

Hermann cut him off with a gentle kiss. “I _would_ prefer handsome, since I’m a grown man and not a prepubescent child, but cute is acceptable if you must.”

“Is that how you’re gonna shut me up from here on out? Because, I gotta say, I might have to start talking even more just so-”

Hermann shut him up. Then shut him up some more.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had so many calls cut in and out during this whole lockdown situation that eventually all inspired this fic. Originally I was going to make this a Corona fic, but I decided to keep the timeline of canon.


End file.
